Coco Fusco: The Empty Plaza/La Plaza Vacia

Inspired by the 2011 Arab Spring, Coco Fusco
chose the empty Plaza de la Revolución in Havana as the site for her meditation
on public space, revolutionary promise, and memory. Fusco’s video punctuates
views of the Plaza’s current architecture with long takes documenting Fusco’s
passage through the vacant square, intermingled with archival footage depicting
scenes from post-revolutionary Cuba. Throughout the video, the Spanish
narration (with English subtitles) by acclaimed Cuban journalist Yoani Sanchez describes
what does and does not appear.

“The absence of public in some plazas seemed
just as resonant and provocative as its presence in others,” Fusco noted.
“Cuba’s Plaza of the Revolution is one such place—a stark, inhospitable arena
where all the major political events of the past half-century have been marked

by mass choreography, militarized displays
and rhetorical flourish. I decided to create a piece about that legendary
site—an empty stage filled with memories, through which every foreign visitor passes,
while nowadays many, if not most, Cubans flee.”

Fusco has performed, lectured, exhibited, and
curated internationally since 1988. She is a recipient of a 2013 Guggenheim
Fellowship and a 2013 Fulbright Fellowship. Her work has been included in two Whitney
Biennials (2008 and 1993), the Mercosul Biennial (2011), the Sydney Biennale
(1992), the Johannesburg Biennial (1997), the Shanghai Biennale (2004), and
Performa05. She is an associate professor and Director of Intermedia
Initiatives at Parsons The New School for Design in New York.

This program was curated by Andrea Inselmann,
curator of modern and contemporary art & photography at the Johnson Museum,
with Hannah Ryan, PhD student.

Images from Coco Fusco: The Empty Plaza/La Plaza Vacia (Click an image to open slideshow)